Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Has $3.14 Million Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,794 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $3,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Scholtz & Company LLC boosted its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Scholtz & Company LLC now owns 47,461 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 5,902 shares in the last quarter. Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the fourth quarter worth about $1,855,000. OV Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. OV Management LLC now owns 16,773 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock worth $1,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 403,618 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $45,653,000 after acquiring an additional 88,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $360,000. 75.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 949 shares of Abbott Laboratories stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total transaction of $131,123.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,277,222.77. This trade represents a 1.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. The trade was a 15.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock worth $15,463,316 in the last 90 days. 0.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of ABT stock opened at $131.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $228.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $130.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.61. Abbott Laboratories has a one year low of $99.71 and a one year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is presently 30.85%.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.